


For Something Completely Different

by Nevcolleil



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode: s04e22 All or Nothing, M/M, blam week july 2013
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-02
Updated: 2013-07-02
Packaged: 2017-12-17 11:38:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/867100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nevcolleil/pseuds/Nevcolleil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blaine wants a proposal. Sam... is just figuring out what he wants. He tries to find a solution that will work for both of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For Something Completely Different

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the Blam Week going on on Tumblr, Day Two: Episode Rewrite/Canon Divergence. It's how episode 4x22 "All or Nothing" ~~should have~~ could have gone ;)

"Are you actually talking about a marriage proposal? Dude, we're in _high school_! You're not ready for that, and I'm not letting you."

Just the _thought_ of Blaine going through with this-

Blaine's probably got everything figured out already: what he's going to wear, when it's going to happen... He'll use a real ring, and he'll probably sing Kurt something perfect in candlelight under the stars somewhere with a lot of pretty flowers.

The thought of it does something funny to Sam's stomach and makes his heart pound at the same time.

"I'm not asking for your permission, Sam," Blaine says immediately, voice going flat and tight. "And I don't remember you being this introspective when you were asking Brittany to marry you."

"First of all, I don't know what that means!" Sam says honestly. "And second, we thought the world was gonna end..." Sam is so flustered, he starts walking off down a totally different hall than the one that Blaine is taking. He doubles back, struggling to find words to explain how incredibly different what he had with Brittany was to what Blaine is suggesting now. "And afterwards," he says, trying to lower his voice back down from the near-shout that he's resorted to in his panic, "we regretted it!"

If Blaine does this, and Kurt doesn't crush him with a rejection, then Sam is pretty sure that Blaine is going to go and get married and never look back. He's never once going to regret signing away his right to explore other options... to see other people, for the rest of his _life_. And that's good, right? That's probably the point. But to Sam, the whole thing just sounds so finite; so permanent, so _wrong_ -

Blaine says something about waiting and gay rights and Sam thinks that he should probably be paying attention, but all he can do is stare at his best friend - his "bro" - and think, ' _It shouldn't be like this._ ' Sam's been there, before, when a good friend's made a decision that Sam was afraid would hurt him, and Sam _is_ afraid of Blaine getting hurt. But he's never felt _this_ bad about that; he's never felt like this about a buddy's doing something romantically impulsive. There's a burn at the back of Sam's throat that he can't make sense of, and it holds his tongue as Blaine says, "I want you to be happy for me. You're my best friend, and I was hoping you would be my best man."

To be Blaine's best man... to stand right beside him, with Blaine in some really nice tux, and watch Blaine take Kurt's hand, smile at Kurt with that smile that Sam gets when he's said something that makes Blaine really happy, and promise to love Kurt more than anything-

"So let me know if you change your mind," Blaine says, disappearing around the corner, and Sam doesn't move until the hall is nearly empty.

' _Well... fuck_ ,' Sam thinks, not even feeling guilty - for once - about using vulgar language, even if only inside of his own head. He forces his feet to carry him towards his next class, and tries to come up with some plan for how to handle the fact that: A) his best friend is about to make the biggest mistake of one of their lives; and: B) _who_ 's mistake it is, Sam's just realized, depends on how Kurt might respond to Blaine's proposal.

\---~---

Sam is still planless at the end of the day, but it's obvious that the time for planning has passed, anyhow, when his many texts to Blaine after school go unanswered and his texts to Tina receive this eventual reply: ' _Ring shopping with B. I know it's crazy but he really wants this, Sam. Don't spoil it for him._ '

Sam gets Tina to tell him what jeweler they've gone to rather than argue about who's spoiling what with this proposal, and hops into his truck before his courage can fail him.

Blaine is standing in front of a tray of engagement rings, talking to a kind-looking old woman, when Sam kind of storms through the front door of the jewelry store and searches him out.

Blaine turns, sees Sam, and freezes, the type of sad and determined look on his face that Sam is supposed to be able to wipe away, not _cause_ just by being near.

"Blaine..."

"Sam, if you're here to stop me, don't. I'm doing this-"

"I'm not here to stop you from getting engaged," Sam says, acting on instinct. If he has no plan for how to handle Blaine's asking someone to marry him, then he just won't. Handle it, that is. "I love you and I want to support you. If you want to be married... then I'm all for it."

The jeweler looks on curiously. Blaine's eyes soften, and Sam can see Tina out the corner of his eye watching them closely. But all that's really on his mind right now is what he's about to do next. Sam isn't going to handle Blaine's asking someone to marry him, because Sam is going to stop Blaine from proposing the only way he can think how now that Blaine's refused to listen to reason.

Sam's going to beat Blaine to it.

His pulse jack-rabbiting and his heart in his throat, Sam takes a deep breath and lets his eyes drift over the rings that Blaine had been looking over.

"Is this him?" asks the jeweler.

"This-"

"No," Sam says, trying to keep an even tone of voice and not really succeeding. "No, I'm not the guy he's planning to propose to." And then Sam says a little silent prayer that he doesn't get himself punched or arrested or something and snatches one of the rings off of the tray as the jeweler gasps.

"Sam! What-"

Sam drops to one knee... and then Blaine gasps too and goes quiet.

"I'm not the guy he's going to propose to, but I'm- I'm the guy he ought to. Maybe not today... or next week, or even next _year_. You know, since we aren't even dating yet... But I'm the guy who loves you, Blaine," Sam states his case, dragging his eyes up of the floor and fixing them on Blaine's face as a whole slideshow of emotions crawl across it, one after the other. "And not just when you're being the perfect boyfriend or when I'm around and it's convenient... Not when you're just listening to whatever I have to say or doing what I like to do. I love you for _you_ , Blaine. All the time. I only just realized how much." 

"Oh. My. God..." Tina's voice in the background barely even registers.

"Sam..." But Blaine's breathlessness does. Blaine looks shocked... a little freaked out. Confused. But he doesn't look unhappy. His eyes are wet, which is what Sam had been hoping for - not to make Blaine _cry_ , obviously. But to make him feel _something_ besides disappointment or disinterest or like Sam really doesn't get him at all. Sam does get Blaine. Probably more than Blaine thinks.

"You brought up that time I asked Brittany to marry me," Sam says, ignoring what is probably the flash on the camera in Tina's phone and the other customers in the jewelry store who are all staring now. Blaine's eyes flicker to them uncertainly but then back to Sam as if he can't keep them away. "So I thought about it. Have you?"

"Have I- have I what?"

"I asked Brittany to marry me because I thought the world was ending," Sam explains. Then he tries to make his point. "And isn't that what you're afraid of too? We're graduating... nobody's sure yet where they're going to go or what they're going to do. You're scared, dude, and I promise, that's _not_ the right reason to marry someone. I regretted marrying Brittany, like, as soon as it was over, and even if you marry Kurt and you never let yourself regret it, that won't change the fact that maybe you could have been so much happier if you didn't let fear make this decision for you."

It's the longest, craziest speech that Sam's ever given, but at least - he thinks - it's made a kind of sense.

A sense that Blaine doesn't look thrilled to accept right away. He frowns, the hands at his sides curled loosely into fists.

"Isn't that why you're doing this?" he asks Sam. "Making a scene- Doing _this_ because you're... I don't know. Afraid to lose me as a _bro_ or something?"

Sam could almost flinch. He supposes it's his fault for laying on the 'I love you like a brother' so thick with Blaine while he was dating Brittany. Of course Blaine's not going to hear Sam say that he loves him - as in _loves_ him - the first time, or maybe even the second. Sam's done such a good job of denying his feelings to _himself_ , for so long, that he's even convinced Blaine that there's nothing between them.

Sam takes another of those steadying breaths and takes each of Blaine's hands in his own, the ring he'd swiped stuck between their right palms. 

"Bro... I mean, _Blaine_... I _don't_ love you like a brother," Sam insists. "If you were my brother? Finding out that you were gonna ask Kurt to _marry_ you wouldn't have made me feel like somebody'd punched me in the stomach." And here Sam goes, making his second - but not _last_ , if it has to come to that; Sam's going to fight for this as long as he has to - plea for understanding. "I _love_ you, man. Being afraid is about not wanting something to end. I'm not afraid that you're going to stop being my friend, Blaine... I just don't want to miss my chance to be something more to you."

It's so quiet in the jewelry shop, it's like everyone is holding their breath the same way that Sam is. "I'm not asking you not to get married," Sam repeats himself. "I can't plan the perfect proposal or the perfect wedding... I can't afford the ring I'm holding right now," he says and glances at the shop keeper. "Which... I'm gonna give back, don't worry," he tells her. With tears in her own eyes and a hand pressed over her lips, she just shakes her head, not looking too concerned.

Sam looks back to Blaine. "I'm not ready to get married for real," he continues. "I don't even know if we'll ever want that. You know, maybe we won't work out. I'm just asking you... Blaine, I'm _begging_ you, don't ask Kurt to marry you now. Cause if you do, I'll always regret not figuring all of this out and telling you sooner."

Nobody moves or speaks for a long moment, and then Blaine is using the hands still wrapped in Sam's owns to pull Sam up on his feet. He tilts his head upwards and Sam tilts his down like they've done this a thousand times before and the kiss is everything Sam never knew he wanted _so_ bad.

It's also quick, and both Sam and Blaine are blushing when Blaine pulls back. The quiet applause of the other customers slowly fades away and Tina is practically _bouncing_ just over to Blaine's left. 

"You know... you didn't have to get down on one knee," Blaine says, smiling. "Since you weren't proposing or anything."

"I wanted to get your attention," Sam says, blushing even brighter.

"So... I take it you aren't going to be needing an engagement ring after all?" asks the jeweler lady, smiling at Sam now but still looking a little teary-eyed.

"Oh, I'll be needing one..." Blaine says automatically, smiling as widely as he had when he first told Sam he's been thinking of proposing. Sam's stomach flips again, his heart preparing itself in case- "Just... not today," Blaine finishes, laughing when Sam lets out the breath he's been holding and sets the ring he picked up gently back in its spot on the tray.

" _Thank_ you," Sam says, and then takes Blaine's face in his hands, crushing his lips back onto Blaine's before Blaine can say anything else to scare the crap out of him. 

Jan quietly puts the rings away.

(But she'll laugh out loud - years later - when the same young couple strolls back into her shop, hand in hand, and strolls out again with a ring on one of their fingers.)


End file.
